The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq By George Packer[#4316 5B6 12 PB 512pp d2.4 Faber & Faber, XJOX, how USA set about changing history Middle East]

The Assassins' Gate recounts how the United States set about changing the history of the Middle East and became ensnared in a guerrilla war in Iraq. The consequences of that policy are shown in the author's vivid reporting on the ground in Iraq, where he made several tours on assignment for The New Yorker. We see up close the struggles of individual American soldiers and civilians and Iraqis from all backgrounds. Here is the full range of ideas and emotions stirred up by America's most controversial foreign-policy venture since Vietnam.